Categories: 2024 Postgame Recaps

Aaron Nola battles, offense comes through as Phillies secure series win over Cardinals

Aaron Nola pitched six innings on Wednesday. (Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 4, Cardinals 3

The Phillies have had to battle some tough weather conditions so far this season. Today was no different. A constant rain fell at Busch Stadium in St. Louis for most of the club’s series finale against the Cardinals.

Despite the tough conditions, Aaron Nola, without his best stuff, battled through six innings of work. Meanwhile, the offense picked up four hits with runners in scoring position — something they struggled to do over the first two games of their series against the Red Birds.

Nola’s velocity was down a bit this afternoon. His four-seam fastball averaged 89.5 mph and maxed out at 91.6 mph. His control wasn’t always there, either. He walked three batters and found himself in six three-ball counts. 55 of his 93 pitches were strikes.

The lone damage Nola surrendered came via the long ball. He allowed two solo shots in the second and third innings, respectively, after the Phillies scored a pair of runs in the top of the first. Brendan Donovan hit the second homer off Nola on an 0-2 curveball that he golfed out into the right field seats to tie the game.

Nola finished his afternoon by throwing three consecutive scoreless innings and his ability to battle allowed his team to remain in the game until they broke through in the sixth inning.

The Phillies were only able to record one base hit against St. Louis starter Lance Lynn — a first-inning, two-out RBI single by Alec Bohm. They did make Lynn work, though, and he was pulled after 94 pitches across five innings. Andre Pallante was first out of the Cardinals’ bullpen and the Phillies got to the right-hander, stringing together several singles and a walk to score two runs in the sixth.

After J.T. Realmuto and Bohm reached base via a single and walk, Brandon Marsh poked a ball down the third-base line to bring Realmuto home.

Nick Castellanos, who had his first multi-hit performance of the year on Tuesday, followed Marsh’s RBI knock with one of his own. The veteran placed a hard-hit grounder through a hole on the right side of the infield, plating Bohm to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.

The Phillies could’ve had more runs in their half of the sixth, but after a Johan Rojas bloop single loaded the bases for the top of the batting order, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner both struck out to end the team’s threat.

Fortunately for the Phillies, not being able to add more in the sixth didn’t come all the way back to bite them. St. Louis added a run in the eighth to shrink the Phillies’ lead to one, but in a bit of a redemption outing, Jeff Hoffman, who was charged with a blown save on Monday night, pitched a relatively clean ninth inning to secure the win.

Notes

The Phillies entered play on Wednesday 20th in the majors in team slugging percentage (.354). Their powerless efforts continued in their series finale against the Cardinals as all eight of their hits were singles.

The Phillies went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and didn’t ground into a double play on Wednesday. They went a combined 5-for-22 with runners in scoring position and grounded into five double plays between Monday and Tuesday.
After starting the season 2-4, the Phillies picked up back-to-back series wins on their six-game road trip, bringing their record to 6-6. They will now head back to Citizens Bank Park for a 10-game home stand against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox.

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